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Houston Launching Campaign to End Homelessness

30 June 2014June 30, 2014

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Houston Launching ‘The Way Home’ to End Homelessness

Houston Continuum of Care Public Launch on July 1, Westin Downtown Houston

WHAT:

The Houston/Harris County Continuum of Car, formalized in 2012 to collectively create integrated, community-wide strategies to prevent and end homelessness, will publicly unveil the launch of an approved Action Plan to end homelessness in Houston, Harris County and Fort Bend County. The CoC’s campaign blueprint, “The Way Home,” sets a path to end chronic and veteran homelessness in Houston by 2015, to end family and youth homelessness by 2020, and to build a system in which nobody has to be without permanent housing for more than 30 days. Additional visuals will include a branded resource website and other materials.

WHEN:

10:30 a.m.; Tuesday, July 1, 2014

WHERE:

Westin Downtown Houston, 1520 Texas Street, by Minute Maid Park

WHO:

Speakers will include: Marilyn Brown, President & CEO, Coalition for the Homeless of Houston and Harris County; Bob Pulster, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness; and Mandy Chapman, Special Assistant to the Mayor for Homeless Initiatives. Others in attendance will include: Daphne Lemelle, Community Development Director, Harris County Community Services Department and CoC Steering Committee Vice Chair; Wanda LeBlanc, Harris County Public Housing Advisor; Celene Meyer, Episcopal Health Foundation and Secretary of the CoC Steering Committee; and Thao Costis, SEARCH Homeless Services, Inc.

WHY:

On an average night in 2014, more than 5,300 homeless people could be found on our streets or in our shelters. A sobering statistic, it is nonetheless a dramatic drop from previous years. The Way Home has been launched through an initiative of Mayor Annise D. Parker and the City of Houston, The Houston/Harris County Continuum of Care, and the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, to tackle the problem of homelessness in Houston, Harris County and Fort Bend County.

The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County is a non-profit, 501(c)3 whose mission is to provide leadership in the development, advocacy and coordination of community strategies to prevent and end homelessness. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) named Houston as a priority community to help end homelessness. For more information about the Coalition’s efforts, visit www.homelesshouston.org.